§3362 Emergency Purchase Authority

Summary

When the President declares a natural gas supply emergency, the President can allow interstate pipelines or local gas companies they serve to buy emergency gas on terms the President sets. They may buy from any gas producer who is not affiliated with the buyer, so long as the gas is not from the Outer Continental Shelf and the sale or movement of that gas was not already under a Natural Gas Act certificate right before the contract. They may also buy from intrastate pipelines, local distributors, or other sellers (but not from interstate pipelines or producers acting as sellers). Any such contract can last no more than 4 months, but the President can approve renewals. The President can order pipelines to move gas and build or run needed transport facilities; the buyer must pay those costs and no pipeline is forced to ship more than its available capacity. The federal regulator must make companies keep and share full records of volumes and prices for these emergency purchases. Any emergency purchase from an intrastate pipeline that was under court supervision on January 1, 1977, needs court approval before it takes effect.